Improved paddle-wheel



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEo IMPROVED PADDLE-WHEEL.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 412,640, dated May 10, 1864.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT M. CoMs'rocK, of Old Lyme, in the county of NewLondon andState of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in PaddleWheels ior Propelling Vessels; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a side view of a paddle-wheel constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is an axial section of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspending parts in the two figures.

This invention consists in furnishing apaddlewheel for propelling vessels with fia-t oats of a V or angular form, deepest at the angle, so arranged with their hollow edges toward the axis of the wheel that their central points will be the trst parts to enter the-water and their ends the rst points to leave it, whereby they are made to enter and leave the water more gradually than the ordinary straight floats, producing less concussion in their descent into the water and less lift of water in rising from it, and acting with greater propulsive eiect.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is the shaft of the paddle-wheel, having forged upon it collars a a, arranged in pairs at suitable distances to receive between them the Wooden arms B B, by which the oats are attached, the said arms being tted snugly between the said collars.

C C are the iiat V-shaped floats, each composed of two taper boards, having their broader ends brought together to form the angle ofthe V at the middle of the length of the float, andsecured to the several series of arms B B by means of screw-bolts l l and nuts b b, the bolts which pass through the central series of arms also serving to clamp upon the j int formed between the two boards in the middle of each iioat a pair of iiat plates, c c, of iron, which are placed one at the back and one at the front of the float, and which thus cover and give great strength to the joint.

dd are strengthening rings or hoops, of iron, having their greatest width parallel wit-h their axis, encircling the ends of the several series of arms B B outside of the floats, and bolt d to the ends of the several arms by the bolts e e.

j' f are a series of smaller strengtheningrings, of iron, having their greatest width perpendicular to their axis, bolted to the sides of the arms, inside of the ioats, by means or bolts g g.

It It are still smaller strengthening-rings, of iron, having their greatest width perpendicular tothe axis, bolted by bolts it' to both sides ot' the arms, just outside of the collars a a of the shaft.

This paddle-wheel may be used as a side wheel. It is obvious that in its revolution the points of their angles rst enter the water, and that hence they are gradually submerged and the ends first leave the water, so that they rise very gradually therefrom, and hence in entering no perceptible concussion is produced, as with the ordinary straight float, and in leaving the water there is very little backlift, and the whole or nearly the whole of the power applied to the wheel is exerted onlyto produce the propulsion of the vessel.

By making the bucket deepest in the middle or tapering toward its ends the greatest propelling force is exerted at the middle of the width of the wheel, where it is the strongest.

I do not claim, broadly, the construction of paddle-iioats of V form, as several kinds ot' what are called V-tloats have been used in paddle-Wheels; but

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The at V-shaped iloats, deepest at the angle of the V, applied to the paddle-wheel with their points outward and their hollow edges toward the axis of the wheel, and strength cned at their joints by plates c c and bolts l l, as herein described.

. ALBERT M. GOMSTOCK.

Witnesses:

PREN'rrcE CoMsTooK, DANIEL I. LAY. 

